Synopses & Reviews
On December 17, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, more than eighty unarmed United States soldiers were shot down after having surrendered to an SS unit near the small crossroads town of Malmand#233;dy, Belgium. Although more than thirty men lived to tell of the massacre, exactly what took place that day remains mired in controversy. Was it just a and#147;battlefield incidentand#8221; or rather a deliberate slaughter? Who gave the orders: infamous SS leader Jochen Peiper or someone else?
Fatal Crossroads vividly reconstructs the critical events leading up to the atrocityand#151;for the first time in all their revealing detailand#151;as well as the aftermath. Danny S. Parker spent fifteen years researching original sources and interviewing more than one hundred witnesses to uncover the truth behind the Malmand#233;dy massacre, and the result is riveting.
Review
Poughkeepsie Journal, 9/4/11
“A riveting account.”
Review
Poughkeepsie Journal, 9/4/11
“A riveting account.”
Kirkus Reviews (starred review), 10/15/11 “A sharply focused look at a grisly 1944 incident, the massacre of more than 80 American prisoners outside Malmédy, Belgium. Assembling a massive amount of data (the back matter alone consumes more than 120 pages), the author views the tragedy from the perspectives of survivors, the Germans and the Belgian civilians, some of whom aided the wounded, some of whom did not…Comprehensive, definitive, grim and gripping.”
Synopsis
From a leading expert, the gripping tale of the largest single atrocity committed against American POWs on the Western Front in World War II
About the Author
Danny S. Parker, an expert on the Ardennes Offensive, has written extensively about the military campaign, including the highly acclaimed Battle of the Bulge and To Win the Winter Sky. The author spent fifteen years interviewing over one hundred eyewitnesses, including over a dozen survivors as well as German soldiers and Belgian citizens who were present at the massacre. Parker has conducted years of extensive research, examining the original sources at the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Eisenhower Library, the U.S. Army Military History Institute, and the Bundesarchiv in Freiburg, Germany. He is widely regarded as a leading expert on the massacre and the Battle of the Bulge. He lives in Cocoa Beach, Florida